Multiplex’s long-delayed Peterborough PFI hospital development has been given the go-ahead, but with a budget cut of almost £60m.

The news comes as the Department of Health (DoH) announced that seven more hospitals were to be built under PFI contracts worth £1.5bn. Peterborough is the only one of the schemes to have had its budget cut. The original cost of the hospital, announced in March 2005 was £340m. The DoH now says it will be delivered for £282m.

The other hospitals awarded contracts are: Bristol North and South Gloucester, Tees and North-east Yorkshire, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, Mid Yorkshire, Mid Essex Hospital Services and North Middlesex University Hospital.